The Joyous Entomancer
by Meyoko
Summary: An entomancer reminisces over all the joy filled times he and his guild shared, when the shutdown for Yggdrasil occurs. His only response to not being logged out is, "Huh? Wait what?".
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

Chapter 1: Arrival

Deep within a colossal pit sunk into lifeless stone, past thick layers of overlapping cobwebs with numerous shiny black eyes staring out from within; past a cold and dark cavern so massive that one cannot see it in all of its entirety; past winding corridors with damp soil walls, inside a large study filled to the brim with all manner of preserved insect specimens, ranging from the size of a common fly to the size of an elephant, a pale man wearing a dark purple vest over a bright purple shirt, who had slicked back dark purple hair and bright green eyes, held a clear vial that contained a pulsating green ooze within one of his four hands.

"Ironic that after twelve years of frenzied searching for a World Class item that has some kind of relation to insects, I found one the day of the shutdown…"

The pale man moved the vial from his human arms towards one of his smaller arms, covered in a purple exoskeleton, that were attached to his waist. Two pairs of transparent papery wings at his back quivered in excitement.

"Still though, for a weaker guild like us, I'd say having two World Class Items in our possession is quite the feat, even if one of them was found by dumb luck."

Upon saying this the man pocketed the vial and moved to a different corner of the room, revealing that the lower half of his body was that of a dark purple centipede with large pincers at the tail end. The man stopped before a wooden desk cluttered with various papers, books, and knick knacks. When he set his gaze upon a picture frame holding a photo of a bipedal bee and himself in front of a dark abyss situated in grey rock, he smiled, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. Beneath the picture frame a small golden plaque read, "Pestil Revo Corrosi and Scrald Thornet claim the Pit of The World's End".

"I wish I could relive that moment, that was truly the happiest moment of my life."

His green eyes glazed over as he fondly recalled the hectic, beautiful day where he and the bipedal bee who had a reversed color scheme that was mainly black with yellow stripes, finally managed to claim a base of their own.

"I never did thank Scrald for convincing me to join him in his quest to create a utopia for insects… But someone like him would've been able to tell that I was grateful, he always was great with reading people."

As the man, Pestil, was reminiscing about how his guildmate was here an hour earlier to talk about the good old days before logging off for good, he was brought back to the present by the gentle tolling of an antique clock above the desk, informing him that the game was a mere hour away from shutting down. He moved over to the exit of the study, a sturdy wooden door with brass reinforcements, and strode out into the hallway. The hallway was a long tunnel that was dug into the compact earth with magical lanterns that lit the hallway at intervals. The hallway had tunnels that branched off into numerous different paths, and Pestil chose the path closest to him and followed it until he was standing before a sleek white door.

He tapped the door once with his hand and the door opened up before him. He walked through the doorway and was now inside an expansive white room with many shiny counters and high tech looking machinery taking up the space inside. Utop the counters were various magical instruments, scrolls, notebooks, and vials. Pestil moved over to a particularly complex looking device that had a magic circle drawn in silver on it's side, and saw a long golden staff leaning against the machine. Pestil grasped the staff, which had a miniature beehive attached to the top, in one of his hands and when he touched it small and agile bees were seen entering and exiting it.

"How irresponsible of him, leaving the guild weapon in his research lab… Well, I guess that's part of the charm of him, he was always too busy with his experiments to pay attention to what he considered trivial."

Pestil grabbed the staff and took it with him as he left the lab and and went down another earthen tunnel. He walked amongst the moist dirt and humid air until he was at the entrance of a large storeroom. He walked inside the cluttered storeroom, filled with wooden crates and chests, and opened up the only non-wooden container in the storeroom. The chest was made of a shiny metal that seemed to glow with every color of the rainbow. Inside the chest were many priceless looking items, each one looking like an ornate piece of art you'd see in a museum. Pestil rummaged inside and grabbed a sharp and jagged obsidian crown, and an amethyst staff that looked like a coiled mass of centipedes. He equipped the crown and held the staff. He then put the golden staff from the lab into the chest and closed it. He took a mirror out of his inventory and admired his reflection for a second before putting it back.

"I might as well wear my best equipment, as the game is shutting down. Also, what good are powerful items if you never use them?"

He left the storeroom and moved through the winding tunnels for a few minutes, his amethyst staff lightly resounding through the tunnels every time it struck the earth. Gradually the walls of the tunnels shifted from dirt to stone and, as he exited the tunnel, he was now in a gigantic stone cavern. This cavern was the second floor of the dungeon, with the third and final floor being the tunnels Pestil was in earlier. The cavern was pitch black, but with his Dark Vision, he was clearly able to make out three figures in the cavern. The closest one to him was a man in a black suit who wore a plague doctor mask, fur sticking out from between his neck and the mask. The man held in his hand a long silver cane that had a wolf's head for the handle. He was Renfield Boilburst, a level 80 wererat with job levels in plague doctor.

The next closest figure was someone who had the body of an overstuffed and decrepit scarecrow, and the head of a bright orange flames coming from within his head were the only illumination in the cave. He held in his hands, which were little more than tangled roots, a wooden staff that had a pumpkin as it's handle. He was Jackson Wallop, a level 60 scarecrow with job levels in pyromancer.

The third and final figure was a deathly pale woman with long, unkempt silver hair. She wore a black gothic ballroom dress and within her hands were two wooden crosses that held up marionette dolls with string. She was Elizabeth Hunten, a level 60 poltergeist with job levels in puppeteer. Pestil fondly remember the various insectoids and entomancers who had joined and left the guild, leaving behind these NPCs as a reminder of their contributions to the guild. While Pestil's guild, Jovial Mask, was made to nurture insectoids and entomancers, players who were often targeted by both heteromorph and humanoid players alike, many of the members would quit and go off on their own once they reached a level where they could defend themselves. Pestil moved past the three NPCs who guarded the second floor, and walked a ways through the cavern until he reached the entrance to the first floor. The first floor was the large pit that could be seen from the outside.

The visibility was very low in the first floor as the pit was filled with numerous crisscrossing spider webs that kept invaders from seeing into the dungeon. Pestil looked up from where he stood, the bottom of the pit, and was only able to see webs and red eyes. Amongst the webs, many man sized spiders, with soulless black eyes, wandered and patrolled the first floor. Pestil vibrated his transparent wings and flew up to about halfway up the pit, where there was a large spider nest amongst the webs, that held the three guardians of the first floor. When he was level with the nest, he flew into a small opening in the nest. Inside the nest were another three figures.

The first figure was a massive dark red spider with glowing yellow eyes and an exoskeleton that was covered in spikes. He was Racken Furyclaw, a level 40 rage spider with job levels in berserker. The second figure was a woman with short brown hair, blue eyes, and the arms and legs of a green bird. She wore a black and droopy witch hat, and wore a black gown over her body. She was Mina Spellorn, a level 30 harpy with job classes in witch. The third figure was a man in white nobles clothing who had an oversized and exaggerated head of a mosquito. His compound eyes were large and red, his proboscis ending in a sharp point that could shred flesh. His hands were covered in long hairs and his fingers ended in claws. He was Krinst Evengrad, a level 30 misquoteman with job levels in hemomancer. Pestil looked them over before nodding and leaving the nest.

He flew up out of the pit, and was now outside his guild base, Pit of the World's End. Outside the pit were the icy plains and mountains of Helheim. The guild base has thus evaded notice from other players as it is nestled behind a mountain that has little value and no rare items. Pestil sighed with nostalgia as he admired the icy view that he has come to know as home over the last few years. As he did so he checked the time and saw that the game was only a few minutes away from shutting down. He left the icy plains and flew back down into the base, going back to the research lab on the third floor. When he got there he sat down on the floor in one empty corner of the room and watched the time pass by. As the last few seconds of the game approached he quietly whispered,

"I wish these happy times would last forever…"

As the clock reset, Pestil was left with only one response to the game not shutting down as planned.

"Huh? Wait what?"

End of chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2: New Beginning

Chapter 2: New beginning

Pestil stood still in shock, his wings vibrating in surprise. Suddenly the surroundings in the research lab were much more vivid than he remembered, his nose picking up smells of burning wood, chemicals, and rusty metal. Pestil showed a confused look on his face after he noticed the various smells coming from the lab. He could've sworn that there weren't smells back in Yggdrasil.

"Must be a glitch, maybe the game malfunctioned before shutdown."

Pestil moved one of his lower arms to access his menu, when he realized that he couldn't bring it up. Not only that, but his status information wasn't in his sight like it normally was. Confronted with this Pestil started to worry that the game was extremely broken, and that he might be unable to log off.

"What in the world? It's rare for a glitch to occur in the basic status menu of DMMO-RPGs, and I've never heard of a glitch that causes smell."

While Pestil was wondering about this, he was struck yet another shocking blow. He could actually feel his magic power within him. It was a weird sensation, that felt like having extra veins in your body that pumped blood, or in this case mana, rapidly throughout his body. He started to suspect this wasn't a glitch, but had to make sure. His bright green eyes scanned over the floor and noticed five hand-sized centipedes were crawling near his feet in a circle.

"Wait, that's the visual effect of my special skill Conscription of Insect Born, but I don't remember activating the visual effect. In Yggdrasil the skill was passive, but the visual effect would only activate when one summoned an insect, so why is it active now?"

As Pestil was wondering about the strange activation of the visual effect of his skill he left the lab and moved about the tunnels. Crumbling dirt fell every few seconds, and various roots sprung out from the walls of the tunnels. Pestil again noted that the game seemed more real, and started to have a strong suspicion that the game was now somehow reality. Pestil showed a look of excitement on his face, his wings vibrating in joy. He hadn't expected that what he considered his last parting words for the game, might have come true. Pestil moved amongst the tunnels until he ended up before a large limestone door, intricate carvings of bees adorning it. Pestil pushed open the door with surprisingly little resistance and the brightly lit interior was revealed. The room was only slightly smaller than the second floor's gargantuan cave. The walls were made of plain, cleanly cut limestone that had no decorations except for the bright torches dotting them at intervals. At the far end of the room was a large steel door that lead to a massive treasury half filled with shiny gold coins. But standing guard in front of the door were four figures. The first one was female and was made entirely of shiny silver metal. She has two ruby encrusted corsair cutlasses attached to a metal belt at her waist, was wearing dark and black metal suit and pants, and her eyes were a smoldering yellow that resembled hot iron. She was Sylvia La Monic, a level 100 Steel Golem with classes in swashbuckler and one of the four guardians of the third floor. The second figure was a man-sized bipedal dark green scarab who wore faded white Egyptian priest clothes and held a bronze sickle in each of his skinny arms, which were covered in a green exoskeleton. The right sickle had runes carved on it and gave off a pale blue light. The left sickle had pearls on its handle and emitted a radiant white light. He was Belnor Cryostil, a level 100 Emerald Scarab with job levels in Egyptian priest. The third figure was a dark skinned female demon who is only one foot tall. She had four wings, with the upper pair of wings being black demon wings, and the lower being golden fairy wings. Her hair is bright green and is in pigtails, and black ram horns are seen emerging from beneath her hair and above her elfen ears. Her eyes are green and have plus shaped pupils and black sclera instead of the usual white. Her tiny hands and feet end in long black sharpened fingernails and toenails, her mischievous smile is full of sharp teeth, and she has a black demon tail that ends in a spiked ball. She was adorned in a short green dress that has yellow flowers around the bottom of the dress, was holding a wooden staff, with ivy wrapped around it, and the top of the staff ends in many branches that surround a floating green orb. In one of her hands is a dark wooden tribal mask with a it's own hand covering one of it's eye holes. She was Shyeth Fareblood, a level 100 Demonic Fairy with job levels in druid. The fourth figure was the last of the NPCs in the dungeon and was a woman with short green hair, green plate armor that resembled a turtle's shell, a long and flowing blue dress, and a small kappa head plate, with swirling deep blue water inside, was attached to the top of her head. She was Shelly Emerson, a level 100 world turtle with job levels in water elementalist.

Once Pestil looked the four figures over, they all immediately bowed. Pestil showed a smile in response to their bowing as that action had confirmed that the game was now reality, as bowing without saying the command was not possible.

"Hey, you guys can all raise your heads now and stand, you are all equal to me in power. Plus I'm not somebody who is worth bowing for, I'm just an ordinary person."

The first NPC to raise their head, though only partially, was Sylvia. She looked dead serious as she said,

"I'm sorry Lord Pestil but that simply won't do. You are the last remaining member of Jovial Mask and as such we must show you a certain level of respect."

Pestil looked over the other guardians and saw they each had the same resolve to show respect. Pestil let out a sigh and said,

"Well you can do as you please, but don't go overboard ok? I don't want this power going to my head and inflating my ego, I'm just an ordinary person, unremarkable."

Belnor raised his head and looked Pestil directly in the eyes.

"My Lord, you mustn't downplay your significance. You are the sole remaining member of Jovial Mask, and the last reason for our existence, without you we would have no purpose. As long as you are here, I couldn't call you ordinary. Everyone else left but you remained, that shows your compassion and loyalty to the guild's ideals."

Pestil seemed to think about this before shaking his head. No matter how you looked at it, he was just a normal guy who spent his time playing video games, nothing special like what Belnor was saying.

"Belnor let's agree to disagree. Now then, all of you please stand. Belnor I dismiss you and you are free to work on your hobby of glass blowing. Shyeth you are free to go pull pranks on the others while you wait for orders. Shelly and Sylvia you two follow me. Shelly you'll be my advisor and Sylvia you will be my sword and shield."

All of the guardians responded in unison with saying they understood. Belnor left the limestone chamber and slowly walked into the tunnels, and Shyeth swiftly and playfully fluttered out into the tunnels, leaving a stream of light particles in her wake. Pestil and his the two remaining guardians moved out into the tunnel as well. They silently walked for a while before Shelly raised a question.

"Lord Pestil, where are we going? Taking this route indicates we are headed to the second floor entrance."

Pestil responded, whilst moving forward, without looking back at his two followers.

"I plan to meet with all of the guardians, not just you guys from the third floor. The first and second floor guardians might not be that strong to you, but they are still precious members of Jovial Mask to me. You mustn't look down on them just because you're stronger."

Shelly nodded as she heard this, but displeasure still showed on her face. Sylvia also had a look of annoyance when the topic of the first and second floor guardians was brought up. Pestil silently wondered to himself why most of the old members of Jovial Mask decided to have the all the floor guardians of the separate floors dislike each other but like guardians from their own floors.

They eventually reached the giant cavern of the second floor and were greeted with Elizabeth, Renfield, and Jackson all bowing in subservience to Pestil, but looking at the two guardians from the third floor in disdain.

"You guys can all rise. Also, can you please at least try to hide the fact that you don't get along? It's kind of unpleasant to see my allies openly show hostility to one another."

Renfield was the first to responds, his voice muffled from inside his bird like mask.

"I beg your pardon Sir Pestil, but we feel that we from the second floor are much better suited to the defense of the Pit of the World's End. Even if their levels are higher than ours, we are a vital choke point our defenses. I'd say much more than those who guard the non-vital first floor and those who guard the overly protected treasury."

Pestil could only sigh in response to these comments, as it seemed like their hostility wouldn't die down no matter what he said.

"Oh well, I guess I can't change your minds. Renfield you are allowed to take over the management of the defense of the Pit while Shelly goes with me. Once she returns, she will again be in charge. Elizabeth you are free to work on you plays, and Jackson you can start a small fire. Emphasis on small, don't burn anything important, just a few of the low level POP monsters."

The three guardians of the second floor replied that they understood and Renfield looked smug as he was currently higher ranked than Shelly. Shelly herself looked annoyed but was unable to change the situation. Pestil and the two guardians moved on towards the first floor entrance. Once they reached it, Pestil his entourage all moved up towards the nest above their heads. Shelly cast a spell and grew wings of water, and Sylvia simply jumped up using her immense physical strength to boost herself up to the nest in one go. As soon as Pestil entered, the three guardians of the first floor were bowing. And as soon as Shelly and Sylvia got there there were audible sounds of displeasure coming from Racken. Racken's thick spider legs moved about in irritation. Pestil told the guardians of the first floor to raise their heads and to stand. They eventually did and looked him in the eyes, awaiting orders.

"You lot are free yo do as you please until I return or until Renfield orders you to do something as he's in charge of our defenses right now. Krinst you can go write your poetry, Mina you can work on magic research, and Racken… Don't start any fights or randomly break anything."

The three guardians all told Pestil they understood and began to move their separate ways. Pestil and his two followers left the nest and went up to the exit of the Pit of the World's End. Before they reached the exit, Pestil gave a warning.

"I'm not sure if anything outside our base has changed, so we better be prepared to retreat immediately into the Pit."

The two nodded in unison. Pestil turned to leave and what he saw transfixed him for a moment.

"Holy crap. This place is really pretty."

End of chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3: First Steps

Chapter 3: First Steps:

"Holy crap. This place is really pretty."

Pestil was rendered immobile in awe of the sapphire blue expanse that lay before him. The Pit of the World's End was situated in the middle of a wide formation of steep granite cliffs that overlooked a deep blue sea, the only sounds on the rocky cliffs were the rustling of deep green grass blowing gently in the sea breeze and the faded crashing of foamy waves against the jagged cliffs. Pestil continued to be transfixed by the beauty of a live and vibrant sea, something he could never have experienced in real life as the world was heavily polluted, before Pestil was brought out of his daze by bored yawns of Sylvia behind him.

"It be much better looking if it were a sea of molten metal, just saying."

Pestil turned away from the sprawling sea and turned to look at what was behind him. Behind Pestil was a large expanse of short green grasses that were swaying in the light wind. The only change in this scenery were the occasional large chunks of mossy granite that dotted the landscape, and one sun bleached human skeleton that wore rags, looking like it had been there for quite some time. In the horizon one could just barely see the outline of wooden houses in the distance. The homes looked sturdy but plain, with simple fire pits encircling the group of fifteen or so houses. Normal people would be unable to see the homes from this distance, but Pestil's inhuman green eyes helped aid in seeing farther than most. The gentle orange flickering of the fire was similar to the numerous stars twinkling in the dark night sky. Pestil looked both worried and excited at the sight of the presumably occupied village.

"Well, we may be meeting our new neighbors sooner than I thought. I expected to end up in some forsaken desolate land where nothing could thrive, but this is a pleasant surprise."

Sylvia looked serious and uttered a harsh proposal.

"Lord Pestil, I believe we should immediately show them who's in charge of this region now. Should I go and teach them their place?"

Pestil looked distracted as he responded to Sylvia's proposal.

"No no, we should be civil about this if possible. Now will they be friendly or hostile to us is the question. I should send a punitive expedition force to stealthily gauge the inhabitants disposition."

After Pestil said this he moved one of his armored lower hands out in front of him.

"「Create Low Tier Insect: Enchanted Butterf-"

Numerous small brown moths suddenly appeared around Pestil. They were all level 1 moths, with no abilities. Pestil was internally confused as to why his passive skill, Conscription of Insect Born, had activated when he had already turned it off, but decided to deal with it later and tried his summoning again.

"「Create Low Tier Insect: Enchanted Butterfly」"

A small magic circle formed on the ground, and a small butterfly with giant, dazzling wings appeared before him. It's oversized wings darted from one bright color to the next. After rapidly flapping it's colorful wings a few times, it slowly became transparent until it could no longer be seen. Pestil closed his eyes once it became invisible, and seemed to concentrate. After a few minutes of this, Pestil eventually reopened his eyes and extended his hand outwards. Within his outstretched palm the colorful butterfly from before slowly became visible. The butterfly then crumbled into a sparkling magical powder that blew away on the slight wind.

"So it seems the village is inhabited by humans, and none appear strong or combat ready. It's just a normal, peaceful village. We'd be best off making contact with them and conducting civil exchanges of information. We should hide our location first though.「Create Mid Tier Insect: Stone-gorged Bug」."

After Pestil finished reciting the name of his summoning skill, the lone skeleton that lay in a pile of torn rags began to liquefy. The liquified bones became a dark black putrid sludge that smelled like meat that had been left out in the sun for a week. The sludge clumped together and formed into a large stone beetle. It's shell was as large as a house, and looked like a jagged boulder. It's many rugged legs were protruding outwards at an angle from underneath the rocky shell. It had no visible eyes or head, only a shelled body and legs. Pestil looked surprised and quietly mumbled to himself.

"Eh? Why did that skeleton become a Stone-gorged Bug? That's really different from Yggdrasil. I'll have to conduct experiments on this later, but first we must construct basic defenses. I can only summon so many Stone-gorged Bugs a day, but with some of my saved up stockpiles of scrolls, I can summon more."

Pestil reached an armored hand into the air in front of him, and it suddenly appeared to partially disappear. Pestil looked through his cluttered inventory until he found the scrolls he wanted and retrieved them. His hand appeared again but with many scrolls stacked upon his palm. He threw them up into the air and a blue flame soon reduced them to nothing. Upon activation of the scrolls, a group of fifteen Stone-gorged Bugs appeared. In unison they all started to pile atop each other, and their legs all locked together to form what, if viewed from afar, would appear to be a short pile of stones. The Stone-gorged Bugs now concealed the large pit that lead into their base. To passersby it would look like nothing more than a rocky mound, like one of many granite mounds that dotted the cliffs.

"Now that that's been dealt with, let's go towards the village. This should be a fun visit."

Shelly seemed surprised by the suggestion to visit the village.

"Lord Pestil, would it not be considered strange to the humans if we visited them at night? Perhaps we should wait till day?"

Pestil seemed unconcerned and simply waved off the notion.

"Nonsense, if they can't deal with unexpected visitors, then they aren't worth our time. People should be willing to open their homes to guests at all hours, me included. That's why we have the guest rooms on the third floor. Granted if the guests were hostile, they would be dealt with appropriately."

Shelly still seemed unconvinced but gave up pursuing the matter. The trio made their way to the village at a leisurely pace, giving the two burly men stationed at a watchpost on the village's border enough time to see figures approaching. One of the two men, a muscular man with dark tanned skin and curly dark orange hair, decided to say something to the other man, a large and misshapen man with a bald head, about the approaching figures.

"Oi, Florn, isn't it too early for the hunting party to be back yet? I thought it would take them three days."

The second man, Florn, yawned and tiredly replied.

"So what? They got back a little quicker. Maybe they ran into some trouble with a Snarling Rotwood or something. Either way I don't particularly care, I just wanna have Randolph take over my shift so I can get some well earned shut-eye. Randolph is crazy like you Stoln, you both seem to take this job seriously. I mean, when was the last time anything ever attacked our village that wasn't just a hungry wolf or two? Easily dealt with."

The red headed man, Stoln, flexed his large arms in response.

"You wanna get smart with me Florn?"

Florn only lazily scratched his bald head in response, and yawned yet again.

"Whatever, nothing gets through your thick skull anyway. But seriously, look at the figures there, there's only three of em. Unless most of the hunting party got wiped out, I'd say we have visitors. Maybe a few weary monks in need of a place to stay, wouldn't be the first time. The Slaine Theocracy doesn't treat the Northern Monks very well, so we've got to show them a little compassion, they were exiled from their holy site for heaven's sake."

Florn still seemed more concerned with when his next nap was than with the topic of monks. Stoln looked annoyed, but decided to let it go.

"Whatever. You can sit here all ya like, I'm gonna go do my job and see what's what."

Stoln got up out of his wooden seat, and left the rundown looking outpost. As he approached the figures, he could finally tell what they looked like. He assumed that something must have been wrong with his eyes, as he thought one of them was made of metal, another was both part bug and surrounded by small brown moths, yuck, and the last one at least looked relatively normal except for her choice of attire, a long blue dress, green plate armor, and a weird water filled bowl on her head. After blinking a few times he concluded that his eyes did in fact work, and that the strange people in front of him were real.

"What in the hell."

End of chapter 3

Author's note: The reviews have been what got me writing this again, so thanks for reading! :D Also, the next part will be about the village and Pestil encountering each other.


	4. Chapter 4: First Encounter

Chapter 4: First Encounter

"What in the hell."

Stoln was stunned at the fact that three unusual people, if that's what they were, were currently right in front of him with no given explanation as to why. As Stoln was trying to reason why they could possibly be here, the man who was half centipede waved at him.

"Hello there! We are your new neighbors, but we won't say where we live unless we decide you are trustworthy. Now then, would you be willing to chat with us for a minute? We're new here after all, so we have many questions."

Stoln showed a friendly but wary smile.

"Well I'll be darned, the bug man knows how to speak. Sorry, but I can't do anything for ya guys until the Chief hears about this and decides what to do. You could be man eating monsters for all we know, so sorry but I can't stay and chat."

As Stoln said this, he slowly drew an iron dagger from a small pouch at his side and readied it.

"Don't take offense, but I'm a bit wary of you folks. I'll be back after getting the Chief, I trust you'll be fine with waiting?"

A sudden bloodlust filled the air around Sylvia. Shelly just continued to patiently smile, showing no emotion about what was said.

"You arrogant human, you dare to order Lord Pestil to wait?! How rude can you be to a man as strong as he is?!"

The sudden outburst, from the now angered Sylvia, had Stoln become deathly pale with fright. Just as he thought, "This is it I'm not gonna live through this one", Pestil reached out a hand to calm Sylvia. She immediately lost all anger and only seemed worried as to if Pestil would reprimand her.

"I'm flattered that you felt like you needed to defend my time, but I'm just a normal person, I can wait like everyone else."

Pestil looked towards Stoln, his strange green eyes looking him over.

"What's your name?"

Stoln sighed in relief that he was spared from the anger of Sylvia, and replied.

"Stoln's the name, I'm one of the residents of Fren village, the place behind me. Could I trouble you guys to wait a bit, I need to get the Chief, he'll decide if we can trust ya or not."

Pestil nodded in response and Stoln quickly ran back to the village. From where Pestil was standing, there seemed to be a bit of a commotion in the village, and all the sleeping residents woke up and came outside to see what the ruckus was about. After a few minutes, Stoln, the now wide awake Florn, a lean but short man with brown hair, and an aged old man in white priest's clothing all started to walk over to Pestil and his companions. Once they approached the old priest stared intently at Pestil and his companions for a full minute before he extended a withered old hand out towards Pestil.

"I am the chief of Fren village, Desmond, and these three men are Randolph, Florn, and Stoln. I have decided that you three aren't hostile, at least yet, and thus we are willing to show some hospitality to you."

The old man smiled with this last sentence. The lean man with brown hair decided to speak up.

"Chief, I don't agree with this, how can we trust monsters?! Even if you have a unique ability that lets you discern people's natures, I doubt it even works on monsters! Have you forgotten what happened to Trel village five years ago? One day they were all alive and well, the next they were all found to have been ripped apart and shredded by Piercing Banshees! Chief, Elaine died that night, I won't stand for wretched monsters, like those bastards who attacked Elaine, to be allowed into our village! We ought to just kill them now!"

The Chief looked sadly at the man, and tiredly spoke.

"Randolph, that incident was tragic and brutal brutal affair that some monsters enacted, but you have seemingly already forgotten the kindness some monsters can show. Our friends at Carne village were protected by goblins, whom we would normally expect to only be able to ravage and destroy. Generalizations are dangerous you know, and lead to conflict when it is easily avoidable."

Randolph still seemed to disagree when a loud metallic shriek filled the air. The sounds of grinding metal could be heard from within Sylvia's mouth as she gritted her teeth in anger. In her hand was her ruby encrusted cutlass, having been quickly drawn from its sheath, and she currently pointed it at Randolph.

"You mere weakling dare to talk about Lord Pestil like that, when he's so much stronger than you?! Have you no respect towards those with power?! I'll slay you here for these transgressions!"

Sylvia was about to slash Randolph's throat when Pestil put a calming hand on her shoulder. She immediately calmed down, but looked confused.

"Lord Pestil, it's only natural for a weakling like this human to die here after insulting the strong, so why would you not let me end him?"

Pestil sadly shook his head at Sylvia, as she didn't understand what he considered to be a basic rule to know, and explained.

"We must treat everyone with the respect and kindness they deserve. Even if they aren't kind to us, we mustn't break that rule, unless they do something truly horrid and either cannot be reasoned with or cannot be forgiven."

"Lord Pestil, I'll take this to heart! Thank you for explaining this to one as ignorant as I, I won't make this mistake again!"

With being Pestil's logic having been explained to Sylvia, she sheathed her cutlass and retreated to be slightly behind Pestil. Pestil sighed and then looked Desmond in the eyes, his buglike form reflected in the old man's eyes.

"Chief Desmond, I swear upon my name and insect kin, that neither my subjects or myself will harm you if you do nothing to provoke us. If you treat us with respect and kindness, then we will return it in kind. A wise man once said, 'An eye for an eye makes the world blind', and I agree with this. I also believe that most intelligent beings are good, and willing to revive and hand out kindness. If you're willing, I would like to intrude upon you for a little while, and ask some questions. I'll be sure to return the favor."

Desmond had a bright smile appear upon his wrinkled face, and looked quite happy.

"Well then, Sir Pestil, I think you and me will get along nicely, the seemingly kindred spirits that we are. I would like to welcome you into our village. I've also heard from Stoln that you are apparently living nearby. We will be conducting talks at my house, as everyone else probably wants to go back to sleep as it's late, so forgive me for their not being a feast to welcome our new neighbors."

Pestil returned the bright smile with one of his own, and extended his hand outwards to show his sincerity to the Chief.

"Yes, I agree with the sentiment that we'll get along, and there's no need for a feast for me, I only want to get to know my new friends."

The Pestil and his entourage followed Desmond into the village, and into the largest of the houses. Stoln, and Randolph could only stare at the leaving backs of the three strangers in stunned confusion. Florn yawned and then turned to Stoln.

"Well this has been one hell of a night hasn't it Stoln? I'm not gonna even try thinking about this and what it means, I'm just gonna let Randolph take over my shift as guard and get myself somd well earned shuteye."

Florn walked away into one of the houses and left Stoln with Randolph. Randolph looked both frightened and furious at the fact that the monstrous people were let inside the village.

"The Chief is a nice guy, I'll admit, but he's also very stupid about some things! What is he thinking letting enemies of humans into the village?! I'll have to do something to get these bastards out of my village!"

Stoln only gave Randolph a cold glare that seemed to say, you'd better not do something stupid.

End of chapter 4

Author's note, I'll make sure that the next chapter will be longer than all of the others, as it'll feature interactions between Pestil's gang and the village, as well as important dialogue. Sorry this one is so short, I just wanted to get something written fast to thank you guys for reading! :D


	5. Chapter 5: Discussion

Chapter 5: Discussion

Pestil followed Desmond into the largest of the houses in the village, although larger than the others it could by no means be described as large, and surveyed the interior. The house was made with the same sturdy and simple wood that was used to make the other houses, as was the sparse furniture in the house. In the center of the house was a long table with a yellowed table cloth over it, candles on trays, and a pitcher of water. To Pestil's right was a hearty fire steadily burning in a metal furnace. To his left was a simple rough cotton bed that looked like it has been well used, and a small kitchen. Desmond sat down on one of the four wooden chairs at the table and invited Pestil to sit across from him. Sylvia took the seat to Pestil's right and Shelly the one to his left. Desmond scratched his head of white, wispy hair and asked a question.

"So Sir Pestil, what do you wish to discuss? I heard from Stoln that you are new here, and I thus assume you wish to know what's around here?"

Pestil calmly and politely answered.

"Yes Chief Desmond, that is one thing we wish to know, but I also want to know about what counties are nearby, where we are located, and if the word Yggdrasil is familiar to you."

"A strange request to ask about which counties are located nearby and in which one we are, but I can easily answer, as I was a priest for the Theocracy for a short while and got to see a map from time to time. Also, call me Desmond, I have no need for titles. We, Fren village, are not formally in a kingdom, but are right on the border where the Slaine Theocracy and the Draconic Kingdom meet. As such, we technically don't have to adhere to either nation's laws, but that doesn't stop them both from taxing us, so we usually live more poorly than most villages due to the double taxation. In fact I think the Slaine Theocracy is supposed to send a tax collector soon, but that's off topic. Another somewhat nearby country is the Re-Estize Kingdom, but they are a months journey by foot away. We have a sister village, Carne village, whom we have known for a while in Re-Estize, I make yearly treks over there to make sure they are doing alright. Although we haven't been doing the best for a few years now, we still have enough able bodied people with a bit of free time to send over a few helpers every now and again, which I'm grateful for. And as for if the word Yggdrasil, if I got that right, is familiar to me, I can't say it is, but I'm just a low ranked priest who ran away to live in a poor village, I can't call myself very well learned."

With this last comment Desmond showed a wry smile and seemed to re-live memories from his past. He continued to stare at the wall for a moment, until he realized he was staring off into space.

"Ahem. Please forgive me for that, I'm getting on in my years and have been doing that more and more lately, I don't think I have much longer left I'm afraid."

Pestil's face turned sincere.

"There's no need to apologize, it's just a sign that you've lived a long

life full of memories. My grandfather used to do the same thing, and he would always tell me stories about what he recalled. I loved those stories… Sorry, that was off topic as well."

Pestil smiled with fondness at the memories he recalled.

"Well, we'll be leaving now, as its late. We'll be back early morning tomorrow for a feast that we will supply the food for, how does that sound? Consider it a gift for your hospitality."

Desmond looked surprised but delighted.

"Ooh. We haven't had the surplus resources for a feast in a while to be honest. When I offered to host one for you earlier, I was worried about how we'd be able to, so this is a blessing. I give my thanks."

Desmond bowed deeply before getting up out of his seat and seeing Pestil and his entourage out to the door. Pestil and Desmond once again shook hands and Pestil started to walk back towards the base. Once the village was in the distance and they were near the Stone-gorged Bugs, Pestil tapped one of the bugs to let them through. The Stone-gorged Bug he tapped scrambled to the floor and created an opening for them to walk through. Once Pestil and his followers were inside, the opening closed back up. Pestil showed a glowing smile.

"Wow, I forgot how much I really just like nice people. This event reaffirmed my belief that most people are good and kind. Maybe I'll add a little extra to their gift for tomorrow in return for their hospitality. I'll also have to invite Desmond to stay in one of our guest rooms sometime."

Shelly looked startled by this statement and asked for clarification.

"Lord Pestil, I thought the guest rooms on the third floor were reserved purely for wandering or struggling entomancers and insetcoids? Is that not the case?"

"Ah, I see how you could have come to that conclusion. We only had entomancers and insectoids use the guest rooms as they were the only ones who'd be willing to stay in the giant insect lair that is our base, we'd welcome anyone else who needed a place to stay if they were willing, but none were besides those two categories."

Pestil clapped his many hands together and looked like a child who finally was allowed to organize his own sleepover.

"Well now, let's get started with the preparations for tomorrow's feast."

Pestil happily hummed down the hallways as he said so, Shelly and Sylvia following behind him.

The residents of Fren village awoke to the pleasant scents of cooked meat, fresh vegetables and fruits, and sugary pastries. They understood why they might smell meat or fruits and vegetables, but they all were confused as to why they smelled luxuries like pastries, things they might only have eaten a few times if at all. When they went outside their wooden homes to see where the smell was coming from, they were stunned to see a large, and polished dark oak table filled to the brim with all manners of food. There were delicious looking roasted meats of all kinds, fresh and crispy vegetables along with sweet looking fruits, and, finally, numerous different types of pastries will all types of fillings, ingredients, and toppings.

The residents all stood stunned around the ornate table, wondering where this luxurious display of food had come from. Did a noble decide to set up camp and eat his lunch here along with his vassals? As they wondered about this, they noticed the same half bug man, green haired woman, and silver woman from last night were all hurrying around and placing comfy looking seats around the table. Once they finished, the silver woman and the green haired woman stood behind the bug man as he spread his arms in welcome.

"To the residents of Fren village, please help yourselves and dig in, there's enough for everyone a to eat their fill, and enough for leftovers. Also, we will provide some entertainment for you whilst you eat."

The residents all just continued to stare at the table in front of them, a few of them wary as it was from the monstrous bug man. They stayed like this until Desmond woke up and came outside.

"What's this? Oh. Oh my. Lord Pestil, this'll be just a treat for us, I thank you again. Well don't just stand there, that rude, let's enjoy ourselves shall we?"

After Desmond said this they residents most sat down and started eating. Randolph was the only one who wasn't willing, and he stormed off somewhere while rambling about how everyone was a fool. As some as everyone took a bite of whatever they choose to eat first, they all gasped with how good the food tasted, and began to chow down upon the delicious food. While they were wrapped up in the good food, especially one skinny little girl with short brown hair who ate quite ferociously, when Pestil threw a few scrolls into the air. The scrolls burst into blue flame and suddenly there were three sofa sized crickets, that had a black and white color scheme, n front of them. Their wings were massive and are constantly vibrating, producing the sounds of various different instruments, their exoskeleton looked like piano keys, with the majority being white, with the upper part of the body having black lines on it, and the crickets also had large black music notes and wavy lines dotting their exoskeletons.

Pestil threw up another five scrolls that were thusly combusted. They summoned five tall, bright green humanoid grasshoppers who had dark green mustaches, top hats on their heads, wore fancy suits, and golden canes in their hands. With a snap of Pestil's fingers the crickets began to produce a cheery melody and the grasshoppers began to dance and hop about quite skillfully. The residents were entranced by this, and even the skinny little brown haired girl looked up from her pile of food to watch the show. As the show progressed, the grasshoppers began to dance and hop more and more, following the music, until they eventually slowed and stopped their performance and bowed to the audience once the music stopped. The audience clapped and gave praise to the grasshoppers, especially Florn.

"Oh boy, can those grasshoppers really kick it! I thought I was a good dancer, until I saw this, now I see I'm just subpar. Nice work for some bugs."

The grasshoppers merely tipped their top hats in response and moved behind Pestil. The crickets also moved to be behind Pestil. After a while the residents finished eating their fill, and happily slouched into their comfy seats. The brown haired little girl, who ate quite fast earlier, finished her food and ran up to Pestil.

"Mr. Bug, can you please stay? I wanna watch buggies dance again, and the food was yummy."

Pestil smiled sincerely and ruffled the little girl's hair with one of his exoskeletoned hands.

"It means a lot to hear I made you happy, so while I won't stay in this village, I'll always be nearby, that I promise you."

The little girl smiled brightly, showing a toothy smile.

"Thanks Mr. Bug! Come over soon and play!"

Pestil smiled.

"I will, don't worry. By the way, what's your name?"

The little girl giggles and responded.

"Hehe. My name's Samantha."

Pestil smiled and moved away from the girl, after promising her to return, and went towards Desmond. Shelly and Sylvia put the food into take out boxes, enhanced with ice magic, which the residents were surprised at as they were seeing these for the first time.

"Sir Pestil, that was quite nice of you to do, both the show and the feast. Well have to treat you next time, when we are able to host a feast. Samantha's mother is quite a good chef, she will certainly make something you'll like."

"I'm sure she will, and I'll be glad to try her cooking once you have excess food. Don't worry about how soon, or if ever, I'm more than happy enough with the kindness I received from you and your village. Also, I plan on leaving the table and chairs here for whenever you or I have another feast or gathering. Don't worry, the chairs and table are weather resistant."

Pestil and his band of bugs and followers moved away from the village after they said their goodbyes.

End of chapter 5


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